By Amanda Painter

Mercury stationed direct last night in late Cancer, just after the Leo New Moon. It will take a few days for Mercury to sort itself out, though, and it’ll be another couple of weeks before it clears where it was retrograde. So your patience and sense of humor could still be handy companions for a while yet.

Three Frisbee players and a wee onlooker at Higgins Beach, Scarborough, Maine. Photo by Amanda Painter.

Partly this is because Mercury will stay in the same degree where it stationed for a few days — it takes a while to get back up to its typical apparent speed — which means it’s in extended contact with Eris in Aries and Haumea in Libra, forming a T-square.

Another factor in the overall astrological environment is a square between Venus in Leo and Uranus in Taurus, exact tomorrow, and a couple of other Leo aspects. I’ll get to those in a moment.

For now, has anything of particular interest emerged for you yesterday or today? As in, did you discover or realize something about yourself, or did someone tell you a key piece of new information, or did your intuition about a situation get confirmed or contradicted?

You might also notice your response to this development. As in, whether your perception and judgment of something has shifted; or whether you’re trying to ignore it or rationalize it away. Where you are on that spectrum offers a clue to how real you’re being. The same could be said for how curious you are to learn more, or how willing you are to share what you’ve learned with whomever else is involved.

The Leo Sun is making a square today to Albion in Taurus (the object previously known only as 1992 QB1). This appears to describe a particular opportunity to cross a threshold now in how you express yourself, though it will require taking a deliberate step in that direction. What feels like it simply must shine forth from you? Does that scare you? Do you assume certain consequences will be involved?

It may feel like the step before you requires courage. But maybe it’s just a matter of actively being who you are. Shouldn’t it take more courage to be who you are not? And yet that is the choice so many of us make every day, to some degree. It seems to be one of the ways Eris in Aries is making itself known: in the overwhelm of popular culture in the internet age, how many of us really get a chance to figure out which ways of being are really true to us, and which are simply so ingrained in everything we see, hear and consume that there’s no contrast available to perceive any different?

Remember that Mercury is also square Haumea in Libra. Haumea is named for a Hawaiian creation goddess who birthed other deities from various parts of her body. For all you know, your ‘being real’ could actually create new options of relating that not only did not exist before you took the plunge with the truth, but actually could not exist before doing so.

I’m not saying roses and champagne are guaranteed; I’m just exploring the idea that since we never truly know what may happen next in relationship to other complex human beings, the results and developments from any particular action can cover a wide spectrum of forms — and some are more visible or conceivable to us than others. Often with good reason. Still, it’s wise to remember that our perception and imagination are sometimes limited to the past and can get tripped up by the future, and even by the present.

Speaking of relationships: aspects involving Venus and Mars are adding some energy through the weekend. Venus in Leo square Uranus in Taurus (exact tomorrow) describes an urge to spice things up, especially in close relationships or with those you’re ‘friendly’ with. Yet there’s often a fine line between playfully flirtatious provocation and picking a fight. As with beauty, this distinction may lie in the eye of the beholder — i.e., not the person instigating things — and Mercury’s condition describes the potential for continued mixed signals. Don’t be afraid to ask directly for clarification when needed.

With Venus also moving into a square with Albion, any disruptions, shakeups, flirtations or “lovers’ quarrels” cropping up also may describe the spark needed to cross a threshold in some way. Interpersonal circumstances that seem to have plateaued or fallen into routine patterns appear most ripe for this kind of movement of energy, if you can see what’s opening up and move into it.

On Saturday, Mars and Juno make an exact conjunction in Leo, though they’ve been moving in tandem for a while now. For many people, this constitutes a reminder to keep tabs on scorekeeping, one-upmanship, boasting and selfishness — especially with people of the opposite sex, and particularly in intimate relationships, though this could crop up anywhere that things get a little competitive or ego-driven.

Ego is not a bad thing, inherently; as one of my colleagues pointed out recently in a horoscope, a healthy ego is necessary to getting almost anything done, and to having a sense of oneself in the world. It’s when the ego feels threatened that we’re more likely to respond by trying to dominate what’s perceived as threatening (which is rarely necessary) — rather than trying to find a point of collaboration, or of giving and receiving. You may need to be the one to offer gentle reminders that help to keep things functional if a situation gets heated, and that could take extra effort.

On the other hand, there’s something about Juno and Mars in Leo that suggests the kind of assertion in love and sex that could fire things up in an enjoyable way. If you can throw some flames and your partner or prospect can serve it right back in the spirit of saucy competition, the playful rather than prideful side of Leo might come out to play.

Mars and Juno conjunct in Leo also speaks to me of something else: a very creative type of partnership, where the activeness of one person fires up the courage of the other. Or, perhaps, the type of inner frisson (caused by some metaphorical fission?) that accomplishes the same thing — with Neptune nudging things along in imaginative (if sometimes awkward) ways.

However the next few days unfold for you, play a little. Try something new. Be real, remembering that your sense of humor can be an integral part of your realness — especially when you’re caught off guard by someone else’s intensity or directness, or when things get screwed up. You always have the option to ask for directions, for more information or for a translation if you get truly lost. And in a sense, we’re all a little lost, aren’t we? Let’s see who we find inside.

COMING SOON FROM PLANET WAVES…